Cabernet Franc

This 1994 Mouton Cadet Reserve, is a blend of red grapes - cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot - that comes from the Medoc region of Bordeaux. The wine has a complex flavor with dried cherry and red currant in the forefront. Consider serving Mouton Cadet Reserve with lamb, roast beef, squab and soft-ripened cheeses.

Ridgeback Winery, a wine-blending facility in Mount Dora, won two medals at the Florida State Fair International Wine and Grape Juice Competition recently in Tampa. The silver medal was earned by a blend of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, which is sold at Ridgeback under the name "Three Dog Night." The second medal was a bronze for its "Rosco's White Woobie," a special reserve sauvignon blanc. Ridgeback also received a silver medal for its "Rosco Red" -- a sangiovese -- from the Amenti del Vino Wine Society wine competition in July in Cromwell, Conn.

Perhaps because it's located in northern California's little-known Lake County, Wildhurst Vineyards doesn't get the attention it deserves. But any winery that makes such nice wines at such affordable prices deserves to be in the spotlight. Consider getting acquainted with the 1999 Wildhurst Vineyards Clear Lake Sauvignon Blanc, a crisp, dry white with taste traces of pear and citrus. Then move on to the 1999 Wildhurst Vineyards Clear Lake Chardonnay, a white with lots of oak in the finish, ending with nuances of vanilla, spice and butter.

Perhaps because it's located in northern California's little-known Lake County, Wildhurst Vineyards doesn't get the attention it deserves. But any winery that makes such nice wines at such affordable prices deserves to be in the spotlight. Consider getting acquainted with the 1999 Wildhurst Vineyards Clear Lake Sauvignon Blanc, a crisp, dry white with taste traces of pear and citrus. Then move on to the 1999 Wildhurst Vineyards Clear Lake Chardonnay, a white with lots of oak in the finish, ending with nuances of vanilla, spice and butter.

Pity the wines of Touraine. Like all the wines made along the Loire River, they suffer in comparison to the grandeur of the castles strung like pearls along the valley. In the center of the valley the competition is particularly tough. Within 25 miles of Tours, there are rugged fortresses dominating the medieval towns of Chinon, Langeais and Amboise and fairy-tale palaces in Usse, Chenonceaux and Azay-Le-Rideau.And history is not wine's only rival here. Touraine is rightly called ''the garden of France.

Cabernet franc and malbec. In Bordeaux they are the loyal foot soldiers that sacrifice their individuality each year to the betterment of blends that will bear a chateau label. Elsewhere, however, in different soils and climates, these grapes are recognized as noble varietals capable of attracting consumers to wines in which one or the other is the principal grape. Over the years, cabernet franc's best showcase has been France's Loire Valley. There the grape produces fragrant and relatively soft-bodied wines that can be long-lived.

For a Californian to make an estate wine as the French do, it helps to have an estate, either an old stone chateau or a reasonable facsimile.In Guenoc Winery on the border of Napa and Lake counties, Orville Magoon has just such an estate: historic, picturesque and vast.Almost 100 years ago the Guenoc Ranch was bought by Lillie Langtry, the beauty idolized by a generation of Victorian men, from a Prince of Wales to Judge Roy Bean. In 1888 Langtry retreated to the ranch, imported a French wine expert and became one of California's first celebrity wine makers, producing wines in bottles labeled with her picture.

It's actually rather romantic. They came together by chance, probably sometime in the 15th or 16th century. It was in France, it was springtime and everything was beginning to bloom. They hit it off, created something extraordinary, then went back to their own ways. And no one ever suspected a thing.No, not two lovers in an old chanson, but two vines, both of them with us today: cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc. Researchers at the University of California at Davis say the two, one a red grapevine, the other a white, are the parents of cabernet sauvignon, probably the world's most prestigious red wine grape.

Ridgeback Winery, a wine-blending facility in Mount Dora, won two medals at the Florida State Fair International Wine and Grape Juice Competition recently in Tampa. The silver medal was earned by a blend of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, which is sold at Ridgeback under the name "Three Dog Night." The second medal was a bronze for its "Rosco's White Woobie," a special reserve sauvignon blanc. Ridgeback also received a silver medal for its "Rosco Red" -- a sangiovese -- from the Amenti del Vino Wine Society wine competition in July in Cromwell, Conn.

Oh, boy! Labor Day is just around the corner. Time to trot out the good stuff for another day of grilling.Wine writers love the annual column about the wines that go with big, black-on-the-outside, red-on-the-inside, sizzling-off-the-grill steaks.After a year of preening politely over delicate flavor matches pairing, we finally get to cut loose and talk about what's been in the backs of our minds all along: red meat and red wine.Winemakers feel the same, incidentally. They come to town touting their wares, sipping us slowly through their chardonnays, their sauvignon blancs, their softer reds like pinot noir or Beaujolais.

Cabernet franc and malbec. In Bordeaux they are the loyal foot soldiers that sacrifice their individuality each year to the betterment of blends that will bear a chateau label. Elsewhere, however, in different soils and climates, these grapes are recognized as noble varietals capable of attracting consumers to wines in which one or the other is the principal grape. Over the years, cabernet franc's best showcase has been France's Loire Valley. There the grape produces fragrant and relatively soft-bodied wines that can be long-lived.

Oh, boy! Labor Day is just around the corner. Time to trot out the good stuff for another day of grilling.Wine writers love the annual column about the wines that go with big, black-on-the-outside, red-on-the-inside, sizzling-off-the-grill steaks.After a year of preening politely over delicate flavor matches pairing, we finally get to cut loose and talk about what's been in the backs of our minds all along: red meat and red wine.Winemakers feel the same, incidentally. They come to town touting their wares, sipping us slowly through their chardonnays, their sauvignon blancs, their softer reds like pinot noir or Beaujolais.

U.S. wine buffs have been abuzz for some time now about the potential of wines from South Africa. So far, though, about all we have learned is that this is a country of photogenic vineyards that produce a great deal of unpredictable wine.Before the change in government, the industry suffered from a limited demand for high quality wine, inferior vines and excessive regulation. Cabernet sauvignon is now producing some fine wines, especially when it is blended with shiraz or merlot and cabernet franc.

It's actually rather romantic. They came together by chance, probably sometime in the 15th or 16th century. It was in France, it was springtime and everything was beginning to bloom. They hit it off, created something extraordinary, then went back to their own ways. And no one ever suspected a thing.No, not two lovers in an old chanson, but two vines, both of them with us today: cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc. Researchers at the University of California at Davis say the two, one a red grapevine, the other a white, are the parents of cabernet sauvignon, probably the world's most prestigious red wine grape.

Cabernet sauvignon is the world's greatest grape. It's not the easiest to love, but it's loved more passionately than any other.Small of berry, dark and thick of skin, short of flesh, chock with bitter seeds, its identifying characteristics when young are mouth-puckering tannin, astringent acid, color that blackens your teeth.Ah, but when it's grown, vinified and aged right, cabernet sauvignon is capable of more soaring flights of complexity. Maybe the greatest moment of my 25-year wine career was the day in 1992 when I stuck my nose into a glass of 1961 Chateau Haut-Brion from the Graves district of Bordeaux and sniffed a delicate array of cedar, earth, truffles and rose petals, and tasted the sweet and silky flavors of plums, tar and cardamom.

It's almost embarrassing: Ask a wine taster to describe merlot, and the adjectives that tumble forth all sound sexual - fleshy, ripe, round, warm, succulent, soft, sensuous, sweet, spicy, even (blush) yielding.Blueberry-hued, scented of black cherries, menthol and cream, merlot tastes of ripe plums and chocolate, with a coy finishing zing of black pepper. It matches the richness and complexity of that other red wine, cabernet sauvignon, without its rough, tannic edges.For decades, merlot's character was its downfall, relegating it to secondary status as a blending grape to soften cabernet sauvignon in great French Bordeaux.

For the first time in its 12-year history, the Walt Disney World Wine Festival held a competition for awards in eight wine categories.Although there was no award for ''best of show'' at last month's event, word on the wine-tasting floor, even before the awards ceremony, was that the Murrieta's Well 1990 Vendimia red was not to be missed. Judge Anthony Dias Blue in his notes called it, ''A truly wonderful wine. One of my favorites.''The Vendimia red won in the alternative-reds category. Other winners were:Sauvignon blanc and classical blends - Murphy Goode 1992 fume blanc.

For the first time in its 12-year history, the Walt Disney World Wine Festival held a competition for awards in eight wine categories.Although there was no award for ''best of show'' at last month's event, word on the wine-tasting floor, even before the awards ceremony, was that the Murrieta's Well 1990 Vendimia red was not to be missed. Judge Anthony Dias Blue in his notes called it, ''A truly wonderful wine. One of my favorites.''The Vendimia red won in the alternative-reds category. Other winners were:Sauvignon blanc and classical blends - Murphy Goode 1992 fume blanc.